Baidu Inc (百度) — the search engine and technology company often called China’s Google — plans to release a self-driving car with BMW Corp by the end of the year.
The Chinese firm has been working on autonomous vehicles for the past couple of years, recently partnering with automakers, including BMW.
The two companies announced a self-driving research project in April last year, driving test cars around the complex highways of Beijing and Shanghai.
Baidu’s senior vice president Wang Jin (王勁) told the China cloud computing services summit that the company would launch a new self-driving car with BMW in China before the year is out.
The prototype car is to be used to test road-readiness of Baidu’s technology, which is to involve the car driving itself, but still have human controls.
Google unveiled a new series of prototype vehicles built from the ground up to be self-driving cars, having previously modified Lexus sport utility vehicles and Toyota hybrid cars for testing purposes.
Its new car aims to completely replace human control with artificial intelligence, reducing controls to a destination selector and a start/stop button. A version with a human driver is to be tested on public roads in the near future.
Baidu is taking a more traditional route to the self-driving car. Its head of deep learning, Kai Yu (余凱), said last year that the technology it was developing was designed to assist drivers rather than replace them.
The Chinese firm has its own data-mapping service, which is a prerequisite to any automotive robotics project and invested US$10 million in a Finnish mapping start-up IndoorAtlas in September last year.
It also has undertaken extensive artificial intelligence research, including machine learning and the technologies needed for computer vision for cars and other robotics, rivaling those of Google.
However, Baidu has one major advantage over its US rivals: Many of the driving-assisted vehicles on the road today, including Tesla Motors Inc’s Model S, are technically capable of driving themselves.
While the technology has yet to be proven, the major hurdle to autonomous vehicles on public roads is legislation.
China and Baidu could steal a march on the West through flexible legislation. The Chinese government has more power to rapidly mandate the kind of wholesale changes that would be required to unleash self-driving cars.
There is still some debate over in what form self-driving cars will emerge. Automotive manufacturers are working on their own technology with the clear ambition of selling a traditional car that can drive itself — something Baidu seems to agree with.
Others are working on autonomous vehicles that could be seen as pool cars or a form of public transport, with driver-less vehicles operating as shuttles or bus replacements.
While Google's self-driving pods resemble the latter, Uber Technologies Inc, for instance, is working on autonomous vehicles with the aim of running a taxi service that do not require human drivers.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
RSS